The pinnacle of American football is now over for another year. While some watch for the game, many are tuned in for the ads. At an estimated $8 million per ad this year, it is a big investment, but also reaches a huge audience.
Domain investors are not just checking out the ads, but also watch the domain names mentioned. This year, those included 2-letter .com names WT.com and ON.com, single-word .com, names like fetch.com, and multiword .com names such as YourAttentionPlease.com.
It is certainly possible I missed a reference, but I don’t believe there were any references or .ai, .io, .org or any extension other than .com. Please correct me in the comments if I missed one.
While a number of ads linked clearly to a domain name, others, like Carl’s Junior, that operate on the domain name CarlsJr.com, one of several ads that directed watchers to a mobile app for a promotion.
There was no lack of great single-word domain names promoted, including Rocket.com, Fetch.com, Ramp.com, Homes.com, and others.
Most ads tell a story, and in many cases the ads only include the domain name in the final second or two of the ad, so probably more about achieving general brand familiarity than immediate traffic.
Startups With 2025 Ads
Clearly it depends on how you define ‘startup’, but TechCrunch link 5 of the 2025 ads to startups in the article: Here are five startups that are running Super Bowl ads this year. The mentioned companies are:
The Ramp ad featured Philadelphia Eagles star running back Saquon Barkley. Philadelphia won the game, in case you missed it.
GoDaddy Ad
You can access the GoDaddy Airo® ad Act Like You Know on the GoDaddy YouTube channel. The ad tells the story of Walton Goggins and his goggle business – see GogginsGoggles.com.
The ad makes an engaging case for Airo-enabled website creation and promotion. The company preceded and followed the event with marketing campaigns to increase impact.
Squarespace Ad
Squarespace was the other domain industry related entity, other than search and AI companies, back with an ad in 2025. The Squarespace ad is probably different than what you would expect – watch it at A Tale As Old As Websites. The ad ends with the message: “A website makes it real.”
Interesting Domain Name Take in the Homes Ad
The Homes.com ad features a superb one-word domain name, but also prominently mentions a third-level, five-word operational domain name! Yes, really. Check out the video, and see that Homes.ComIsTheBest.com is operational and redirects to homes.com. Check the video to see how the long name relates to the story told in the ad.
Analysis of the 2025 Ads
I think domain investors can learn from the ads in a few ways. One is to see which niches are spending big in the ad space, since that probably may carry over into being willing to spend on domain names that serve as the bedrock for their promotions.
There may also be a more subtle way to learn from the ads, however, and that is how the brand story is being told. That has implications both for the type of domain names that might find traction going forward, particularly for marketing campaigns, but also, possibly, what might be effective in domain name presentation and promotion.
XR Extreme Reach, that operates from the domain name XR.global, shared an analysis of the 2025 ads: Super Bowl Ads Shift from Stars to Stories and Humor Wins Big. Among the points was more use of humor, found in 71% of 2023 ads but 85% this year. There was also a greater emphasis on storytelling and authenticity this year. The GoDaddy Airo® ad mentioned earlier certainly illustrates both trends.
Best Ads Ranked
In case you are more interested in a ranking of the most interesting ads, rather than an analysis of content, there are numerous rankings out there, including the Billboard 10 Best Super Bowl Commercials in 2025, Ranked. Interestingly, none of the ads mentioned in this NamePros Blog article made the top 10 in that ranking, a list dominated by food-related ads.
Ads With Names Recently Acquired
Several of the ads featured domain names recently acquired from the aftermarket. For example, the $14 million sale of Rocket.com was the highest-value sale on the 2024 NameBio Top Sales list. The seller was Hilco Digital Assets. The Rocket rebranding was because of a significant broadening of offerings, e.g. Rocket Homes, Rocket Mortgage, Rocket Card, and several more - see Rocket.com.
It is hard to watch Rocket’s Own The Dream ad without being emotionally touched by the montage of clips presented to John Denver’s classic song Take Me Home, Country Roads. It is not surprising that many in the stadium audience joined in a singalong with that ad.
While to my knowledge the selling price has not been disclosed, the domain name WT.com transferred to WeatherTech.com in early 2024. In this X post, Elliot Silver pointed out that the name had previously been listed at BrandForce.com with a price of $3 million plus.
The WT Name and Advertisement
Let’s look at the WeatherTech® ad. The ad features the high-impact Born To Be Wild music, well-known to a generation, and the story line only fleetingly refers to the protective auto mats that the company is known for – one of the golden age actors spills her tea cup on the car mat.
Even more fleetingly, there is a split second near the end of the ad, I had to pause and watch a few times, in which their registered trademark WeatherTech® is blurred into W T, and the domain name WT.com appears above. While the ad serves several purposes, one is clearly to start the process of customers associating WT.com with the brand.
The company has recently been investing big in their rebranding. Not only did they acquire the domain name for millions, and produced and run an ad for another $8 million plus production costs, the company also took up a racing car sponsorship – see WeatherTechRacing.com.
The Prestige and Flexibility of 2-Letter Names
Is it worth it when the company, that is right now only using WT.com to redirect to their site WeatherTech.com spends big on acquisition and promotion of the name?
What advantage does shortening an established name like WeatherTech® to WT bring? With only 676 2-letter combinations, using a 2-letter domain name brings instant respect.
Beyond that, WT opens the doors widely for expansion into other products. That is already happening, as the company offers pet products, infant seats, desk mats, and a variety of other things, along with car mats.
John Berryhill’s Take
Just as I was putting the finishing touches on this article, the Internet Commerce Association, ICA, published an article by @jberryhill that starts off with the WT.com ad: Two-Letter Domain Names, the Big Game, and the UDRP. I strongly urge you to read the full article, that dives into UDRP cases involving 2L domain names, and the surprising lack of consistency in panels over the years.
Here are a few quotes from the article.
The First Acronym Dot .COMs
Many acronyms are among the first registered .com names. The list of the oldest registered .com names includes HP, IBM, TI, ATT, and GE among the oldest 25 .com domain names.
It’s All About Storytelling
The best ads tell a story, all in less than 30 seconds. They intertwine something new, while reconnecting to something familiar.
Have we produced, not for the big budget screen necessarily, ads that use great storytelling about what the right name can do? Please drop links in the comments below with what you consider the best examples of clips that do enticing story telling within our industry.
The Domain King® Hand Registers a Name
With a one-sided score, The Domain King®, Rick Schwartz, interest waned part way through the game. The event did inspire him to hand register a domain name the next morning, however. Rick is now the owner of SnoozeBowl.com. He shared that on his private X account, and gave me permission to include it here. You can check out his DomainKing.com site to see some of his other names.
Have Your Say
I hope that you will extend this article with your insights and comments.
Congratulations to Philadelphia Eagles. They planned and played a superb game in all dimensions.
Thanks to all of the creatives who contributed to the various ads.
In case you wonder why some articles refer to the Big Game, it is because NFL Properties stringently protect their trademarks on ‘Super Bowl.’
I realize the NamePros membership is global, and not everyone follows American football. In case you need an explainer, when she was about 3, my granddaughter described what happens in football this way: “Men run around and fall down.” That is about it, although they make a lot, and entertain many, in doing that running around and falling down. And occasionally throw or kick a ball too.
Updates:
Feb. 16, 2025 Added the ON.com domain name mention. Thanks to @J.D. for pointing this out in the comments below.
Domain investors are not just checking out the ads, but also watch the domain names mentioned. This year, those included 2-letter .com names WT.com and ON.com, single-word .com, names like fetch.com, and multiword .com names such as YourAttentionPlease.com.
It is certainly possible I missed a reference, but I don’t believe there were any references or .ai, .io, .org or any extension other than .com. Please correct me in the comments if I missed one.
While a number of ads linked clearly to a domain name, others, like Carl’s Junior, that operate on the domain name CarlsJr.com, one of several ads that directed watchers to a mobile app for a promotion.
There was no lack of great single-word domain names promoted, including Rocket.com, Fetch.com, Ramp.com, Homes.com, and others.
Most ads tell a story, and in many cases the ads only include the domain name in the final second or two of the ad, so probably more about achieving general brand familiarity than immediate traffic.
Startups With 2025 Ads
Clearly it depends on how you define ‘startup’, but TechCrunch link 5 of the 2025 ads to startups in the article: Here are five startups that are running Super Bowl ads this year. The mentioned companies are:
- Hims & Hers
- OpenAI
- Poppi
- Papaya Global
- Ramp
The Ramp ad featured Philadelphia Eagles star running back Saquon Barkley. Philadelphia won the game, in case you missed it.
GoDaddy Ad
You can access the GoDaddy Airo® ad Act Like You Know on the GoDaddy YouTube channel. The ad tells the story of Walton Goggins and his goggle business – see GogginsGoggles.com.
The ad makes an engaging case for Airo-enabled website creation and promotion. The company preceded and followed the event with marketing campaigns to increase impact.
Squarespace Ad
Squarespace was the other domain industry related entity, other than search and AI companies, back with an ad in 2025. The Squarespace ad is probably different than what you would expect – watch it at A Tale As Old As Websites. The ad ends with the message: “A website makes it real.”
Interesting Domain Name Take in the Homes Ad
The Homes.com ad features a superb one-word domain name, but also prominently mentions a third-level, five-word operational domain name! Yes, really. Check out the video, and see that Homes.ComIsTheBest.com is operational and redirects to homes.com. Check the video to see how the long name relates to the story told in the ad.
Analysis of the 2025 Ads
I think domain investors can learn from the ads in a few ways. One is to see which niches are spending big in the ad space, since that probably may carry over into being willing to spend on domain names that serve as the bedrock for their promotions.
There may also be a more subtle way to learn from the ads, however, and that is how the brand story is being told. That has implications both for the type of domain names that might find traction going forward, particularly for marketing campaigns, but also, possibly, what might be effective in domain name presentation and promotion.
XR Extreme Reach, that operates from the domain name XR.global, shared an analysis of the 2025 ads: Super Bowl Ads Shift from Stars to Stories and Humor Wins Big. Among the points was more use of humor, found in 71% of 2023 ads but 85% this year. There was also a greater emphasis on storytelling and authenticity this year. The GoDaddy Airo® ad mentioned earlier certainly illustrates both trends.
Best Ads Ranked
In case you are more interested in a ranking of the most interesting ads, rather than an analysis of content, there are numerous rankings out there, including the Billboard 10 Best Super Bowl Commercials in 2025, Ranked. Interestingly, none of the ads mentioned in this NamePros Blog article made the top 10 in that ranking, a list dominated by food-related ads.
Ads With Names Recently Acquired
Several of the ads featured domain names recently acquired from the aftermarket. For example, the $14 million sale of Rocket.com was the highest-value sale on the 2024 NameBio Top Sales list. The seller was Hilco Digital Assets. The Rocket rebranding was because of a significant broadening of offerings, e.g. Rocket Homes, Rocket Mortgage, Rocket Card, and several more - see Rocket.com.
It is hard to watch Rocket’s Own The Dream ad without being emotionally touched by the montage of clips presented to John Denver’s classic song Take Me Home, Country Roads. It is not surprising that many in the stadium audience joined in a singalong with that ad.
While to my knowledge the selling price has not been disclosed, the domain name WT.com transferred to WeatherTech.com in early 2024. In this X post, Elliot Silver pointed out that the name had previously been listed at BrandForce.com with a price of $3 million plus.
The WT Name and Advertisement
Let’s look at the WeatherTech® ad. The ad features the high-impact Born To Be Wild music, well-known to a generation, and the story line only fleetingly refers to the protective auto mats that the company is known for – one of the golden age actors spills her tea cup on the car mat.
Even more fleetingly, there is a split second near the end of the ad, I had to pause and watch a few times, in which their registered trademark WeatherTech® is blurred into W T, and the domain name WT.com appears above. While the ad serves several purposes, one is clearly to start the process of customers associating WT.com with the brand.
The company has recently been investing big in their rebranding. Not only did they acquire the domain name for millions, and produced and run an ad for another $8 million plus production costs, the company also took up a racing car sponsorship – see WeatherTechRacing.com.
The Prestige and Flexibility of 2-Letter Names
Is it worth it when the company, that is right now only using WT.com to redirect to their site WeatherTech.com spends big on acquisition and promotion of the name?
What advantage does shortening an established name like WeatherTech® to WT bring? With only 676 2-letter combinations, using a 2-letter domain name brings instant respect.
Beyond that, WT opens the doors widely for expansion into other products. That is already happening, as the company offers pet products, infant seats, desk mats, and a variety of other things, along with car mats.
John Berryhill’s Take
Just as I was putting the finishing touches on this article, the Internet Commerce Association, ICA, published an article by @jberryhill that starts off with the WT.com ad: Two-Letter Domain Names, the Big Game, and the UDRP. I strongly urge you to read the full article, that dives into UDRP cases involving 2L domain names, and the surprising lack of consistency in panels over the years.
Here are a few quotes from the article.
This is the thing that has always fascinated me when brand owners want a ‘reasonable price’. That super bowl ad, with a lifetime of seconds, probably cost them much more than the domain name – which is open for eyeballs all day and night, every day and night.”
You might think that 2-letter domain names would never be challenged in UDRP proceedings, but that is not the case. The article has a table with 14 domains, decisions and links to the cases, along with @jberryhill illustration of markedly different decisions.I don’t know, but if someone wants to spend $8M to get my attention to look at and remember their $3M domain name, then it seems to me the domain name was still a bargain at that price.
The First Acronym Dot .COMs
Many acronyms are among the first registered .com names. The list of the oldest registered .com names includes HP, IBM, TI, ATT, and GE among the oldest 25 .com domain names.
It’s All About Storytelling
The best ads tell a story, all in less than 30 seconds. They intertwine something new, while reconnecting to something familiar.
Have we produced, not for the big budget screen necessarily, ads that use great storytelling about what the right name can do? Please drop links in the comments below with what you consider the best examples of clips that do enticing story telling within our industry.
The Domain King® Hand Registers a Name
With a one-sided score, The Domain King®, Rick Schwartz, interest waned part way through the game. The event did inspire him to hand register a domain name the next morning, however. Rick is now the owner of SnoozeBowl.com. He shared that on his private X account, and gave me permission to include it here. You can check out his DomainKing.com site to see some of his other names.
Have Your Say
I hope that you will extend this article with your insights and comments.
- Did you, inspired by the game or ads, register any domain names?
- What domain industry ads, no matter where they appear, show engaging story telling?
- What do you have to say about the game or ads in general?
- Do you think the spend is worth it for advertisers?
- Which ads do you think had the biggest impact?
- What ad did you personally prefer?
Congratulations to Philadelphia Eagles. They planned and played a superb game in all dimensions.
Thanks to all of the creatives who contributed to the various ads.
In case you wonder why some articles refer to the Big Game, it is because NFL Properties stringently protect their trademarks on ‘Super Bowl.’
I realize the NamePros membership is global, and not everyone follows American football. In case you need an explainer, when she was about 3, my granddaughter described what happens in football this way: “Men run around and fall down.” That is about it, although they make a lot, and entertain many, in doing that running around and falling down. And occasionally throw or kick a ball too.
Updates:
Feb. 16, 2025 Added the ON.com domain name mention. Thanks to @J.D. for pointing this out in the comments below.
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